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This is a comprehensive guide to a literary period characterized by great variety and imagination, and vividly alert to the social transformations overtaking society. Spanning almost two centuries, it introduces the reader to a diverse range of authors writing for a fast-developing readership of both men and women. Each chapter focuses on a group of genres primarily associated with a particular social class – from the Drama and Saints' Lives accessible to the illiterate, to the sophisticated Romances of Love savoured by the aristocracy and the Court. Lively historical narratives place each group of texts in their social, political and cultural contexts. Significant or typical texts are given more detailed analysis that includes critical issues and questions to guide the reader's own approach, and each section is supported by a detailed bibliography of further reading.
The novel addresses the characteristics of those “stand up” people who have the moral fiber to confront societal issues such as snitching—or, in her words, turning a blind eye to the truth and integrity. Just as importantly, the author invites the readers to examine the fabric of a person who is driven by an obsessive need to belong and to be accepted by others. This book begs the question as to whether such an individual can face the person looking back at him in the mirror.
William Langland's poem Piers Plowman is one of the most popular and widely-studied Middle English works. This comprehensive, readable guide leads the student chronologically through the entire text and is designed to be read alongside it. Assuming no previous knowledge, readers are introduced to characters, plot and argument in way that enables them to enjoy and analyse the text for themselves. A Guidebook to 'Piers Plowman': - Clarifies and explores Langland's thinking - Contextualises the religious, political and social issues he raises - Details the genres and sources the poet uses - Employs up-to-date bibliographical knowledge to offer alternative critical interpretations and suggest ways of relating these to the poet's key concerns - Explains Langland's historical, theological and psychological assumptions in helpful inserted text boxes - Features illustrations and suggestions for further reading Concise and approachable, this is an invaluable tool to help students appreciate the originality and modernity of Langland's poetry.
An important collection of essays which will be of interest to teachers and students of Chaucer.
More than half a century after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defined what a human being is and is entitled to, Catharine MacKinnon asks: Are women human yet? If women were regarded as human, would they be sold into sexual slavery worldwide; veiled, silenced, and imprisoned in homes; bred, and worked as menials for little or no pay; stoned for sex outside marriage or burned within it; mutilated genitally, impoverished economically, and mired in illiteracy--all as a matter of course and without effective recourse? The cutting edge is where law and culture hurts, which is where MacKinnon operates in these essays on the transnational status and treatment of women. Taking her gendered...
"[The essays] focus on class and gender not only sheds new light on old texts but also stretches the boundaries of the critical modus operandi which is often applied to such literature." --Women's Studies Network (UK) Association Newsletter These dramatic new readings of Old and Middle English texts explore the rich theoretical territory at the intersection of class and gender, and highlight the interplay of the critic, methodology, and the medieval text.